With the proliferation of online resources these days, you probably have usernames and passwords for banks, investment accounts, bill pay systems, credit card sites, email accounts, instant messenger accounts, photo sites, blogging tools, and countless others. Most people have only a few - sometimes just one or two - simple passwords they use for all of these accounts, because it's easier to remember just one or two than it is dozens. The problem is, this is <b><i>incredibly risky</i></b>.

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If you're like most people, you have a few passwords that you use over and over again on many different websites. You know this isn't secure, yet you do it anyway. Why? Because it's difficult to remember a unique password for each and every web site that requires one.

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Ideally, at a minimum, you should use a unique, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_strength#Strong_passwords <i>strong password</i>] for each of your accounts that contain sensitive information - like your bank or your invesntment brokerage account - but what about all of your other accounts? They may not contain information that is quite as sensitive as your bank, but it is still your private information, and none of anyone else's business.

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==Existing Solutions==

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But only a genius could memorize so many unique passwords. Don't write them down on sticky notes for others to find; no, PasswordMaker calculates them for you over and over again -- as needed -- without storing them so they can't be stolen. And if you use more than one computer (for example, one at work and one at home), it's child's play to synchronize them. There's even an [http://www.passwordmaker.org/passwordmaker.html on-line version] for times when you are at a public computer and can't install any software.

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Maybe you do use unique passwords, and get around the problem of remembering them by storing them in a spreadsheet or other file. Maybe you even use [http://www.symantec.com/passwordmanager/ one] of the many [http://www.edash.com/gotpassword/gotpassword.shtml password managers] that are available. But now you've centralized your passwords and access to them becomes difficult while at work, a friend's computer, or a public internet terminal. You can't get to your passwords without carrying them around or [http://www.passwordsafe.com/ publishing them on the internet]. Some people even carry a USB keychain with their passwords wherever they go. How inconvenient. And [http://www.passwordsafe.com/ publishing them on the internet]? Yikes! We need not even mention the security risks inherent with that solution. Even if you trust the company storing the passwords, you can be sure every hacker in the world is drooling over the prospect of accessing their database (Like the LastPass break in of May, 2011 [http://blog.lastpass.com/2011/05/lastpass-security-notification.html LastPass Announcement]).

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== Existing Solutions ==

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==Our Solution==

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Maybe you do use unique passwords, and get around the problem of remembering them by storing them in a spreadsheet or other file. Maybe you even use [http://www.symantec.com/passwordmanager/ one] of the many [http://www.edash.com/gotpassword/gotpassword.shtml password managers] that are available. But now you've centralized your passwords and access to them becomes difficult while at work, a friend's, or a public internet terminal. You can't get to your passwords without carrying them around or [http://www.passwordsafe.com/ publishing them on the internet]. Some people even carry a USB keychain with their passwords wherever they go. How inconvenient. And [http://www.passwordsafe.com/ publishing them on the internet?] Yikes! We need not even mention the security risks inherent with that solution. Even if you trust the company storing the passwords, you can be sure every hacker in the world is drooling over the prospect of accessing their database.

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PasswordMaker solves all of these issues. It is a small, lightweight, free, open-source tool for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, iPhone, Opera, PHP, Windows, OS/X, Linux, Flock, Yahoo! Widgets, Android, Python, and many other platforms & systems. It creates unique, secure passwords that are very easy for you to retrieve but no one else. Nothing is stored anywhere, anytime, so there's nothing to be hacked, lost, or stolen. PasswordMaker has been around since about 2003 and so is a mature, stable, popular solution.

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== The Solution ==

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==How It Works==

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PASSWORD'''MAKER''' solves all of these issues. It is a small, lightweight, free, extension for [http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ Firefox], [http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/ Mozilla], [http://www.netscape.com/ Netscape], [http://www.flock.com/ Flock], and [http://widgets.yahoo.com/ Yahoo! Widgets] which creates unique, secure passwords that are very easy for you to retrieve but no one else. Nothing is stored anywhere, anytime, so there's nothing to be hacked, lost, or stolen.

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Warning - technical jargon in this section!

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What if you could use passwords that are as unique as fingerprints for each and every one of your accounts, yet not have to remember them? PasswordMaker allows you to do just that. By using complex mathematical formulae, called <i>hashing algorithms</i>, PasswordMaker outputs the same unique passwords for you each and every time you provide it with the same input. And these passwords ''are unique'' across the globe (providing they are of sufficient length).

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You provide PasswordMaker two pieces of information: a "master password" -- that one, single password you like -- and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL URL] of the website requiring a password. Through the magic of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographic_hash_function one-way hash algorithms], PasswordMaker calculates a [http://www.rsasecurity.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=2176 message digest], also known as a [http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/2000/server/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/2000/server/reskit/en-us/distrib/dsch_key_vzqm.asp digital fingerprint], which can be used as your password for the website. Although one-way hash algorithms have a number of interesting characteristics, the one capitalized by PasswordMaker is that the resulting fingerprint (password) does "not reveal anything about the input that was used to generate it." <sup>[http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/security/CryptoSpec.html#MessageDigest 1]</sup>. In other words, if someone has one or more of your generated passwords, it is ''computationally infeasible'' for him to derive your master password or to calculate your other passwords. Computationally infeasible means even computers [[Media:ZBoxOpenJuly03.jpg|like this]] won't help!

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== How It Works ==

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==What About Portability?==

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You provide PasswordMaker two pieces of information: a <i>master password</i> -- that one, favorite password you like -- and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL URL] of the website requiring a password (for internet applications without URLs, such as instant messaging, you can make up any URL you like; e.g., aolinstantmessenger.com). Through the magic of [http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/one-way_hash_function.html one-way hash algorithms], PasswordMaker calculates what is known as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographic_hash_function digital fingerprint] - or hash - which can then be used as your password for the website. Although one-way hash algorithms have a number of interesting characteristics, the one capitalized on by PasswordMaker is that the resulting hash (password) does "not reveal anything about the input (your <i>master password</i>) that was used to generate it." [http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/security/CryptoSpec.html#MessageDigest] In other words, if someone has one or more of your generated passwords, it is ''<i>computationally infeasible</i>'' for him to derive your master password or to calculate your other passwords. [http://www.certifyit.com/_Definitions.htm Computationally infeasible] means even computers [http://krone.physik.unizh.ch/~stadel/zBox/ like this] won't help! Other security features, such as PasswordMaker's ability to automatically insert generated passwords into web sites' password boxes, helps protect you from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystroke_logging key-loggers] and/or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_(computing) trojan horses] that some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hat <i>Black Hats</i>] use to try to steal passwords. For more details, visit the [http://passwordmaker.org/faq.html FAQ].

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For times when you must use one of the rare platforms to which PasswordMaker hasn't been ported, or are using a system where you can't install any software, there's an [http://passwordmaker.sourceforge.net/passwordmaker.html online version] which mimics the extension and works in all web browsers new and old. No downloads or installations are required.

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== What About Portability? ==

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==Old Site==

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The old PasswordMaker website can be found [http://passwordmaker.sourceforge.net/ here]. Please note it is no longer maintained but is present for archival purposes.

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For times when you must use non-Firefox browsers or can't install Firefox extensions, there's an [http://passwordmaker.org/passwordmaker.html online version] which mimicks the extension and works in all browsers new and old. No downloads or installations are required. Additionally, stand-alone versions for desktops, mobile phones, and PDAs are coming shortly.

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Current revision as of 03:55, 12 October 2013

Contents

The Problem

If you're like most people, you have a few passwords that you use over and over again on many different websites. You know this isn't secure, yet you do it anyway. Why? Because it's difficult to remember a unique password for each and every web site that requires one.

Existing Solutions

Maybe you do use unique passwords, and get around the problem of remembering them by storing them in a spreadsheet or other file. Maybe you even use one of the many password managers that are available. But now you've centralized your passwords and access to them becomes difficult while at work, a friend's computer, or a public internet terminal. You can't get to your passwords without carrying them around or publishing them on the internet. Some people even carry a USB keychain with their passwords wherever they go. How inconvenient. And publishing them on the internet? Yikes! We need not even mention the security risks inherent with that solution. Even if you trust the company storing the passwords, you can be sure every hacker in the world is drooling over the prospect of accessing their database (Like the LastPass break in of May, 2011 LastPass Announcement).

Our Solution

PasswordMaker solves all of these issues. It is a small, lightweight, free, open-source tool for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, iPhone, Opera, PHP, Windows, OS/X, Linux, Flock, Yahoo! Widgets, Android, Python, and many other platforms & systems. It creates unique, secure passwords that are very easy for you to retrieve but no one else. Nothing is stored anywhere, anytime, so there's nothing to be hacked, lost, or stolen. PasswordMaker has been around since about 2003 and so is a mature, stable, popular solution.

How It Works

Warning - technical jargon in this section!

You provide PasswordMaker two pieces of information: a "master password" -- that one, single password you like -- and the URL of the website requiring a password. Through the magic of one-way hash algorithms, PasswordMaker calculates a message digest, also known as a digital fingerprint, which can be used as your password for the website. Although one-way hash algorithms have a number of interesting characteristics, the one capitalized by PasswordMaker is that the resulting fingerprint (password) does "not reveal anything about the input that was used to generate it." 1. In other words, if someone has one or more of your generated passwords, it is computationally infeasible for him to derive your master password or to calculate your other passwords. Computationally infeasible means even computers like this won't help!

What About Portability?

For times when you must use one of the rare platforms to which PasswordMaker hasn't been ported, or are using a system where you can't install any software, there's an online version which mimics the extension and works in all web browsers new and old. No downloads or installations are required.

Old Site

The old PasswordMaker website can be found here. Please note it is no longer maintained but is present for archival purposes.